Saturday, September 28, 2013

There are so many billboards for new TV shows and returning favourite series that I've decided to split the two categories over separate posts and not break the internet with the sheer volume of ad creatives. Here's the first selection of billboards for debuting television shows, everything from movie spin-offs to thrillers, cop dramas, comedy quiz shows, talk shows and more besides.

TV billboards

This month Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. got a super-sized boost with this giant billboard along L.A.'s busy Sunset Strip, which probably helped the Marvel movie universe spin-off series secure 11.9 million viewers for its first pilot episode.

I thought Joss Whedon did a great solid job of bridging the worlds between the movies like Avengers and Iron Man 3 and episodic TV with this new super-spy series dealing with the fall-out of superheroes and alien invasions, now I'm interested to see how the resurrected 'Agent Coulson' and his Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will further expand the mythology of the Marvel live-action universe.

I worried that The Blacklist would just be a rip off of The Silence of the Lambs, with James Spader's master criminal 'Red Reddington', the Concierge of Crime, being a 'Hannibal Lecter'-type character, especially as he'll only speak to new FBI profiler 'Elizabeth Keene' (played by Megan Boone) when he turns himself in. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.

Yes, it totally is the same basic premise (without the cannibalism so far), but there also seems to be a bit of an Alias super spy quality to the show too, which could prove interesting.

Another thriller coming to our small screens this fall season is Hostages, which has this cool American flag gag creative. Toni Collette plays a surgeon whose family is held hostage by Dylan McDermott's rouge FBI agent and ordered to kill the U.S. President when she operates on him, otherwise they'll all die.Hostages sounds like an intriguing premise, although maybe a little hard to sustain beyond one season, but I'm willing to give it a try.

It wouldn't be a new season without a TV remake or two, and NBC has dug into its vaults to reboot Ironside for a new generation.

This time the wheelchair-bound detective is played by a black actor, Blair Underwood, and the action has moved from the streets of San Francisco to New York City, which is a shame as there are so many cop shows already set in the Big Apple.
Meanwhile 2013 seems to be the year of the witch, with movies on the big screen like Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters and Oz The Great and Powerful starring magical spell casters and new TV shows like Lifetime's Witches of East End, and also the third season of American Horror Story: Coven, focusing on witchcraft and the occult.

In addition to all the fantasy and crime shows debuting this fall, there's also a boat load of new sitcoms trying their luck. In fact, rather than give them all their own individual billboards NBC decided to lump a few of its new shows with returning favourite Parks and Recreation on the same family billboard.

Later in the month due to his star power no doubt (and his wonderful profile-raising guest role on The Good Wife), The Michael J. Fox Show received it's own solo billboards (take that Sean Saves the World and Welcome to the Family).

His new show with its very unimaginative title, is partly based on the actor's own circumstances, as he plays a news anchor who put his career on hold to spend more time with his family when he discovered he had Parkinson's disease. Now his character is ready to return to work, and so this sitcom really is art imitating life.

Michael J. Fox was a big Hollywood star in the 80's with his Family Ties TV series and the Back to the Future trilogy and Teen Wolf movies, so if you're feeling nostalgic for those times, be sure to check out ABC's new 80's based sitcom, The Goldbergs. This family portrait creative with its matching sweaters really does evoke the time period, with its big hair and retro feel.

More family comedy this season comes in the form of Dads, and this rather exasperated looking creative makes me wonder if I'll be rolling my eyes if I watch this father son sitcom.

Whilst another child with a worried look on her face was Anna Faris who's starring with Allison Janney in a new dysfunctional mother daughter comedy on CBS. I watched the pilot episode and thought the show was okay, but I wasn't rolling about holding my sides either, so we'll wait and see if this sitcom survives for first round of cancellations.

After Bridesmaids and Pitch Perfect I can't see Rebel Wilson without smiling, so I'm more than ready to give her new sitcom a try, especially as she's the writer too. In the comedy, the recently promoted junior attorney convinces her equally nerdy friends to break from the norm and have a fun night out, rather than staying together at home, no doubt hence the title, Super Fun Night.

And comedian who likes to write and star in his own shows is Ricky Gervais, and his new series Derek has been released in the U.S. on Netflix this month (it's already aired back home in the U.K.). In his new role he plays a simple-minded careworker at an elderly home and at least this ad creative for the new show made me laugh with its matching sweater and wallpaper design.

The other half of the comedy equation behind such hits as The Office and Extras is Stephen Merchant, who gets his own HBO comedy series, Hello Ladies, about a gawky single guy trying to find love in L.A. this month. It's not bad to get your own giant-sized billboard, and more smaller ones besides, for your first on screen starring role.

Speaking of men dating, this new sitcom about a jilted fiancé and divorced men living in the same apartment building is my top pick for shows to be cancelled this season. We Are Men just sounds old-fashioned and stereotypical, and no amount of jumping into swimming pools looking like you're having fun is going to convince me otherwise.

In an effort to attract viewers to the struggling network, NBC launched a new quiz show with the biggest cash prize in gameshow history, but apparently not even this, or host Ryan Seacrest, was enough to attract huge audiences for the 10-night event.

Finally this month comedian and actor Arsenio Hall returned to host his own self-titled late-night talk show. Even though the billboard creative is eye-catching, can Arsenio really compete with all the other late-night chat shows already duking it out for rating supremacy.

As you can see, there's lots of new shows starting this month and in October to try and get you watching. Not all of them will survive beyond a few episodes and even if they make a full season, their future can still be based on a flip of a coin. Be sure to check out Daily Billboard every day for all the latest new season TV billboards.

Stay tuned in the days to come for more TV billboards for all the returning shows, who'll now have to work even harder to keep their audiences with all these rookie challengers vying for your precious time.